Fantasy with a Hint of Hell and Princes

Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco

November 23, 2021

November 27, 2021

Rate: ★★★.9

Synopsis

• Emilia and her twin sister Vittoria are witches in Italy and have these special powers

• There were many murders taking place and one night, Vittoria is one of the victims

• Emilia wants to avenge her death by finding who was responsible for her sister’s murder

  • She meets Wrath, one of the princes of Hell, and he says he is trying to figure out who is responsible for all the murders as well

  • But can Emilia trust him and his intentions?

Review

Plot

I have mixed feelings about this book. I have been having such a hard time with fantasy lately and I thought this book was going to help me get out of that genre slump.

It does pick up a little in the middle of the book but I understand when reviews say that Emilia was a bit clueless (more on that later). It took me about four days to get through which is a bit on the longer side of the average time it usually takes for me to finish books. (I was busy this week with Thanksgiving and whatnot so that might have to do with it). I heard that the storyline itself was not the most original but since I have never read any books with demons or witches and spells before, the originality was not an issue in my opinion. There were times where I felt extremely confused because the story fluctuates with being rushed and dragged out at the same time. It took Emilia ten chapters until she decided to work with Wrath and I found that infuriating. But once they started working together, I could feel the plot moving along well enough for me to continue reading. I did feel like DNFing the book in certain parts either because of me being confused or frustrated at how slow it was but besides that, it was an ok book.

Characters

Emilia. She was the narrator of the book and she was a little--how do I put into lighter terms--not the smartest at the beginning of the book. She does have her badass moments (which were great and a lot better than some characters I have read*ahem Avery from TIG*) and I am glad she actually has a spine in her body. But besides that, she was ok. Nothing too bad about her but nothing captivating either. She is not a morally gray character and I am starting to realize that I only truly love those characters.

Wrath was a good love interest. I especially loved him in the second half of the book. He has that kind of charm and humor to him and actually treats Emilia with respect and not someone who is simply...there, you know? I also loved the fact that he slowly began to fall for Emilia and there was just this angst and tension between the two of them which I loved. You don’t see much of him in the first ten chapters which I found a little disappointing because I thought Emilia would team up with him a lot earlier in the book. But once they started working together and after the Viperidae scene, they had a very interesting dynamic. The book said that it was supposed to be an intoxicating romance and I thought it was not intoxicating enough. It had the potential to be more intoxicating but their relationship fell a bit flat considering its expectations.

Last Thoughts, Parting Words

I thought this book was good and I am glad I read it to cleanse my palette of romance books (even though this book had romance haha). But the ending was extremely confusing and I don’t know if I want to read the next one. I want to, I really do, and I heard that it is more new adult than YA! So that’s appealing. But I also heard that it was a trilogy and I don’t know if I should wait for the third book or buy the second one tomorrow since I am going to Barnes and Noble. Ok, you know what, I’ll buy it just to finish it up!

I honestly don’t think I am going to read as good of a book as Dance of Thieves.